Monday, November 30, 2009

I Love You Mom


I have tried to keep this blog light and funny .... not too heavy ... but enjoyable. I think all of us need to laugh at ourselves now and then. But today is different and I hope you'll forgive me for talking about a subject that is anything but humorous. Today I wanted to share some thoughts about my mom.

She passed away last night.

It was the end of a two year decline. She weighed only 70 pounds and barely had a pulse when she was transported to the hospital. Her systems were shutting down as I watched her try to breathe through the oxygen mask. It was hard to watch as I remembered how beautiful she was ... how bright and immacculate she kept herself over the years.

As fate would have it, my two daughters were visiting her earlier in the day at the nursing home when she started to crash. My son and my wife, Debbie met me at the hospital when the ER staff was trying to stabilize her.  I stepped out to speak to the doctor and left Josh, my son, with my mom for a few minutes.

When I came back into the room, she was gone. It was as if she waited to see everyone for the last time and then said goodbye.

For the past three years, Mom and Dad have been living at Menorah Manor, a wonderful nursing home in St. Petersburg. I brought them both here from New Orleans during the weekend of Katrina ... they were kicking and screaming ... but I got them here. My mom (if you've been following my blog) is anything but shy and retiring ... in fact I remember her hospitalization 20 years ago when she was diagnosed with "a heart attack complicated by drama queen disease".  The nurses had called me in St. Pete to come to New Orleans to help them calm her down. When I got there (true story) one of the nurses was straddled over her holding down her hands.

Mom was screaming ... "Joel ... These @#%$#@ are trying to KILL ME!"
The nurse was calmly telling her ... "Mrs. Momberg ... if we wanted to kill you we would have done it IN SURGERY!"

Okay ... you know me .... I just HAD to add a little humor.

I love you, Mom.

1 comment:

Carol said...

That was a great memory to share, thank you. What a wonderful son you have been to your Mom. I'm very sorry for your loss.

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